Quotes from Duke Ellington

If it sounds good, it IS good.

Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.

Love is supreme and unconditional. Like is nice, but limited.

Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one.

New York is a place where the rich walk, the poor drive Cadillac's, and the beggars die of malnutrition with thousands of dollars hidden in their mattresses.

Jazz is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.

By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best

I don't need time. What I need is a deadline.

Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.

There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit Number2- Never forget rule number 1.

Poor little Sweet Pea, Billy Strayhorn, William Thomas Strayhorn, the biggest human being who ever lived, a man with the greatest courage, the most majestic artistic stature, a highly skilled musician whose impeccable taste commanded the respect of all musicians and the admiration of all listeners.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it.

The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.

My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never.

It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

There are two kinds of worries -- those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter.

Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be too famous too young.

On becoming more acquainted with the word of the Bible, I began to understand so much more of what I had been taught, and of what I had learned about life and about the people in mine.

The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.

There are two kinds of worries - those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter.

Yet, every time God's children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened.

There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!

Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves.